The jury in the civil trial against Amber Guyger awarded the family of the man she killed $98.6 million. NBC 5’s Maria Guerrero spoke to Botham Jean’s family after the verdict.
Former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger was found liable for the death of Botham Jean Wednesday and ordered to pay damages of nearly $100 million.
Guyger, 36, was convicted of murder in 2019 and sentenced to 10 years in prison for the 2018 shooting death of neighbor Botham Jean. A jury of six men and six women found her liable in Wednesday's civil trial and ordered her to pay $98.6 million in damages to Jean's family.
In 2018, Guyger had just gotten off work and was still in her Dallas police uniform when she headed home to her apartment in the South Side Flats, an apartment building located two blocks from Dallas police headquarters on the street now named after the victim. As Guyger opened the door to what she said she thought was her apartment, she saw a man inside and shot him. Guyger lived one floor below Jean and, at her trial, testified she mistook his apartment for hers and fired in self-defense.
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Jean's family attorneys are asking jurors to find the former officer liable for using excessive force and agree that she was acting under state law as a police officer.
In a rare move, Guyger chose not to appear in person or have legal representation during the three-day trial. Her criminal defense attorney, Tony Shook, told NBC 5 she didn't have money for an attorney to represent her in the civil trial.
The sole closing argument was shared between the family’s two attorneys and took 45 minutes. The family's attorney is asking for $54 million in both compensatory and punitive damages for mental anguish, loss of companionship, and what Botham Jean would’ve earned.
Attorney Daryl Washington said he hoped any punitive damage awarded would punish but also act as a deterrent, sending a message to police officers that actions like Guyger's would not be tolerated.
Washington said Guyger was not present in the courtroom because she chose not to be. He said her absence was an insult to the jury and that she should have faced them and given them an explanation as to why she shot Jean.
The city of Dallas had been named in the initial lawsuit but has since been removed.
